Random Friday Morning Thoughts

Not exactly a Christmas pick-me-up here, but that was a pretty wild wreck.

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• The Paradise Panthers won't go to the state championship game, losing 27-19 last night.    Paradise took the lead at 3:44 left in the third on this play (video). They had them beat, but it all fell apart in in a brief period of time in the fourth quarter.
  
  
  
• Well, that's insane. 
  

  

• 'LAKELAND, Fla. — A Florida woman was arrested after law enforcement said she threatened an insurance company using the same words found on bullet casings in the UnitedHealthcare CEO's murder. According to an arrest affidavit from Lakeland police, the 42-year-old Briana Boston called BlueCross BlueShield about recently denied medical insurance claims. Near the end of the recorded call, Boston reportedly said, 'Delay, Deny, Depose. You people are next.'" (emphasis added).

  

  
  

  
  
  
• It's that last part which probably got her in trouble. But it's vague enough where she should be in good shape. Not to mention First Amendment issues. (And someone pointed out that the statute she's charged under specifically excludes phone calls. Oops.)
• Video.  That's some sorriness on the part of the driver. 
  
  
  
• They were spraying lacquer in the garage in Saginaw. 
  
  
  
• Add Bezos and Zuckerberg to the new American Oligarchy.  Lots of bending of the knee going on. 
  
   
  
  
  
• We are about to have a New Jersey like drone scare because Oncor sent out notices that it was going to do inspections in Wise County.
  
  
  
  
• Interesting, yet odd, political news. A newly elected D.A. from far West Texas went after newly elected Wise County rep Andy Hopper for being obsessed with partisan politics in the House Speaker's selection. 
  
  
  
• Speaking of the Republican squabble over House Speaker, yesterday afternoon a protestor with a confederate flag showed up outside the home of Rep. Jeff Leach (a Republican who is voting differently than Hopper.)   Leach was hosting his annual Christmas Open House Toy Drive.
  
  
  
• Some of President Biden's Clemency grants are curious.  Note, these aren't pardons, just slight sentence reductions and, I think, all had been moved to house arrest during COVID. Still, they are odd.
• "President Biden commuted the sentence of Rita Crundwell, the woman who embezzled over $53 million from a small Illinois town and spent it on luxury goods, real estate, and a horse breeding business. "
  
  
  
  
• A commutation for former Judge Michael T. Conahan "was convicted . . .  of funneling juvenile defendants to two private, for-profit detention centers in exchange for $2.1 million in kickbacks."
• But there was also a false report of a "pardon" for Shanlin Jin, convicted of child porn out of Texas, being part of the 1,500 clemency announcements yesterday.  He was actually involved in a complicated prisoner swap deal with China back in November. 
• The Zillow Gone Wild twitter account featured a $26 million, 30,000 square foot home in Southlake which is really over the top inside. 
  
  
  
• Trump to August 20th on the campaign trail: Prices will come down.
  
  
  
• Trump to Time magazine for its Person of the Year cover story: I think they'll come down but, hey, that's hard to do.
  
• Time which has passed since the Wise County Sheriff's Office, despite having a full male DNA profile, has failed to solve the murder of Lauren Whitener in her home at Lake Bridgeport: 5 years and 162 days.